Tobacco Use in MN
Economic Costs
- Annually, smoking costs Minnesota nearly $3 billion in health care costs.1
- The tobacco industry spends an estimated $157 million a year to market its products in Minnesota. [2]
- The average cost of a pack of cigarettes in Minnesota is $5.58 – while each pack smoked in Minnesota costs an estimated $8.85 in medical expenses and lost productivity. [3,4]
Emotional Costs
- Whether it’s family, friends, coworkers or neighbors – maybe even the person who means the most – tobacco use leads to over 5,100 deaths in Minnesota a year. [1]
- In Minnesota, 580,000 moms, dads, sons, daughters, grandparents, brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles continue to smoke. [5]
- Children of smokers are almost twice as likely to smoke as children of nonsmokers. [6,7]
Health Costs
- Smoking causes coronary heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States. [8]
- Smoking harms nearly every organ of the body, causing many diseases and reducing the health of smokers in general. [8]
- Smoking accounts for an estimated 443,000 deaths each year in the U.S. – that’s nearly one of every five deaths. [9]
- 5,100 MN adults die each year from smoking.
- Smoking kills more people than alcohol, murders, car crashes, AIDS, illegal drugs, and suicide COMBINED.
Secondhand Smoke
- 282,000 Minnesota kids are exposed to secondhand smoke at home.
- Almost 1/2 of MN adults report being exposed to secondhand smoke during the past week.
- When a smoker lights a cigarette, more than 7,000 chemicals are released into the air, hundreds of which are hazardous. Secondhand smoke contains 70 known cancer-causing poisons and 250 known toxins.
- Secondhand smoke is a known cause of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), potentially fatal respiratory infections, frequent and severe asthma attacks, and ear infections.
- More than 40% of children who visit the emergency room for asthma live with smokers.
- Nolevel of secondhand smoke exposure is safe.
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